Category: Dyson

A mate asked if it was worth saving his abused Dyson cylinder vacuum cleaner which has been residing in the garage for a couple of years, in the dark, unused. It had last seen service when clearing-up building dust and allsorts of non-domestic detritus and that abuse had now given the vacuum cleaner breathing difficulties. A vacuum with breathing issues means no suction.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, January 2020, Dyson DC19.

Interestingly, the reason the Dyson was being called out of retirement was due to a lack of performance from the family’s more recently purchased battery machine. Hopefully I’ll get to see that in the workshop soon as well. I’m getting ahead of myself already.

Make and model: Dyson DC19 (grey and purple)

Fault reported: 70% reduction in suck

Cost of replacement: About £200

Cost of parts: £9.54

Hours spent on repair: 1

Tools needed: Cleaning tools

Sundry items: Silicone spray

Repair difficulty: 1/10

Cups of tea: 1

Biscuits: 2 (M&S Belgium Selection)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Like many abandoned vacuum cleaners I see in the workshop or at the tip, there really wasn’t much wrong or really broken, yet its owner was considering its future. What to do. I’ll write about readiness to repair and repair inertia another time!

All things made, will eventually break. Things that are made eventually wear out and either must be replaced or repaired. However, some things wear out a little faster than others.

Planned obsolescence and manufacturing budgets mean that parts within products can wear out faster than reasonably expected and fail totally, rendering the rest of a perfectly working item, useless.

This is where us repair folk come in. We refuse to accept this problem and work away tirelessly in sheds and lockups everywhere, working on solutions to problems such as this, keeping things going, a little longer.

A friend’s DC32 Animal cylinder vacuum cleaner’s roller beaters had stopped turning and made nothing but a horrible noise, when the cleaner was in use. Not cool.

The roller beaters on this model are literally vacuum operated by a turbine/ fan which spins fast when air passes across it, driving the beaters by a toothed belt and gear. There is no separate motor to drive the roller beaters, which is quite an elegant solution to a complex problem.

Fast forward to the issue and despite identifying the broken part and then contacting Dyson directly for a replacement, they would not sell what I needed, a part that would probably cost no more than £10 to supply. Such a shame.

The price of the (original equipment quality) complete Dyson Turbine Head, suitable for the DC32 vacuum cleaner, is £60.00 as a direct replacement from Dyson, but the part is now copied by other manufacturers. A pattern part design is available for under £20 and if this was my machine, I’d be tempted at that price. Pattern parts have their place, but I suspect that at this price, performance won’t be quiet as good as the original.

So, a choice:

Replace the part with a brand new Dyson part – too expensive

Replace with a non-original part, that will probably do the job – unknown outcomes, unsatisfying

Attempt a repair on the original part. Of course it’s what I’m going to do!

On with the repair. The Turbine Head is screwed together using Torx head screws and the side vents that secure the main drive unit, pop-off the main casing, with some encouragement.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A picture paints a thousand words and the above slide shows the dismantling and reassembly process for the Turbine Head. If attempting this kind of thing yourself, remember to keep all components free of dirt and grime.

In the absence of a replacement, I attempted a repair to the existing fan and since it was made of plastic (some kind of nylon derivative I think) it was going to be difficult. Not many glues will stick this type of plastic well, so my choice was going to be ‘make or break’, literally. I considered an epoxy resin, but opted for Gorilla Glue, since it expands slightly in use, to all of the microscopic gaps. I also used it to modify the fan by filling-in around the spindle to try and prevent slippage, when spinning. When dry, I lightly sanded any high spots of glue away.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, December 2019, glued turbine/ fan.

Once the whole unit was back together and reconnected to the main vacuum cleaner, the head roller beaters spun once again without a horrible noise. Question is, how long will it run for? If anyone thinks they can make a replacement using 3D printing, please let me know!

It’s a dilemma sometimes. Should you always fit genuine replacement parts or is it OK to fit quality aftermarket or pattern parts. My answer: It depends.

Make and model: Dyson DC40

Fault reported: Torn hose and loss of suction

Cost of replacement: About £200.00

Cost of parts: £16.53 (hose and filters)

Hours spent on repair: 1

Tools needed: Screwdrivers

Sundry items: Silicone spray, PTFE spray, rag

Repair difficulty: 2/10

Cups of tea: 2

Biscuits: 1 McVities Gold Bar

A mate of mine contacted me to ask if it was worth fixing his 6 year old Dyson DC40 and as always, I said yes it was. A couple of days later, it was working again, like new.

FixItWorkshop, November’19, Dyson DC40.

The DC40 is still supported by Dyson and parts are readily available direct from them. Problem is that, as my mate did, the price of some spares (although quite reasonable actually) can put some people off, which means that serviceable machinery can end up at the local dump, prematurely. Which is a shame.

This is where pattern parts can help. Often, aftermarket manufacturers will make spares for popular models and the advantage of these is that they are often much cheaper than the original part. However, it’s not as simple as that.

I’ve fixed 100s if not 1000s of things and have used and continue to use a mixture of genuine original (often called OE or Original Equipment) and pattern parts for different reasons. Assuming original equipment parts are the best, here are my thoughts, in no particular order, to help you if facing a similar dilemma.

In favour of pattern parts:

They can make a repair viable, financially

Parts can be available, long after original parts become obsolete

They can provide enhanced features that were not part of the original design

In favour of genuine/ original equipment parts:

They will fit exactly as the specification will be to the original design

They maintain manufacturers warranties, where applicable

They normally last well and perform as expected

As a further example, I will only fit genuine water pumps (on car engines) but will fit pattern air filters. Water pumps must work within very exact performance tolerances whereas air filters, although important, don’t so much. It’s a personal thing at the end of the day.

Back to the repair. This Dyson wasn’t picking up dirt and the extension hose was torn, so a new hose was ordered from a supplier on eBay for under £10, a genuine part was over £25. The hose just clicks out and in, so all that was required was a small flat bladed screwdriver to remove and refit the hose. Nice and easy.

The next job was to sort out the lack of suction. As with all Dysons with a problem like this, I always check filters. As suspected, both filters were expired and needed to be replaced as they were too far gone to be washed. Again, pattern part filters were available on eBay for under £7, genuine ones were much dearer. All new parts fitted well and soon the vacuum cleaner was breathing easily again.

Another issue with the DC40 is the switch lever which diverts suction from the beater head to the hose, which was sticking on this machine. A quick clean up and a small spray of silicone spray on all the moving parts had it all working again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I always clean-up the beaters on any vacuum cleaner in for a service and this one seemed to have half a head of hair stuck in it, which would have impeded performance. The hair was so bad, I had to remove the beaters (just one screw) and cut off the hair with a knife.

With all the remedial work completed, the Dyson ran well proving once again that it’s usually worth repairing, rather than replacing.

An email dropped into my inbox about a poorly Dyson DC25, that needed a bit of a clean up. I said no problem, I’ll take a look. What turned up was a vacuum cleaner that needed a bit more than a quick clean up with a J-Cloth.

None of these features were useful in vacuum cleaner, so out came the screw drivers.

The mains flex damage was about 90 cms from the handle end, so rather than replacing the whole cable at about £30, I decided to shorten the one already fitted on the Dyson. This involved removing three screws on the reverse of the handle to expose the wiring. From there, the broken flex could be cut-out and the sound part of the flex, reattached to the Dyson’s wiring. See below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The DC25 features a roller-ball, enabling the beater head to twist and turn in to tight spots on the floor. This means that mains power must navigate the various joints and hinges on the way from the main body to the roller beaters. A quick test revealed that the power was not getting through. After removing one of the side covers, there was evidence of a previous repair. One of the mains cables had broken and had then been twisted back together. Clearly, an improvement was needed. Using a section of repair cable, a small joint was soldered back in to place with some mains-rated heat shrink around the connection for insulation and reinforcement. See below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The beater head also needed a good clean, which meant a strip-down and re-build. All parts were cleaned, inspected and reassembled. During that process, a small break in the beater head wiring was found, repaired and put back together. See below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Finally, the machine needed a good clean up. The main cylinder was washed, the filters washed (although I later decided to replace these) and the main seals on the vacuum system, cleaned and silicone sealed. See below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

During clean up, the spigot-yoke that holds the roller ball in place on one side was found to be missing. Luckily the owner had kept this and dropped it back to me to re-fit.

This Dyson was on the brink, but with a little bit of spanner-time, it’s now ready to serve many more years.

I’m a bit of a sucker for Dyson products. They are well engineered products from the school of function over form and in my opinion, objects of art.

This Dyson wasn’t very well when it was admitted to the workshop. The owner had complained that the vacuum cleaner wasn’t picking up dirt and dust properly. The beaters were not spinning either.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, May’19, Dyson DC40 beater head.

The beater ‘head’ is attached to the main body of the vacuum cleaner and is held in place with a sliding clip. The head can rotate and move to allow maximum control. The beater roller is driven not via a belt from the main motor, but from its own smaller motor in the head unit. So, there is an electrical connector between the main body and head unit. As the beaters were not spinning, it seemed sensible to test the electrical connection. Upon testing, it was not working.

The mechanism on this vacuum cleaner is quite complicated and relies on levers and joints working in harmony. Dismantling the wheels, filters, brackets and covers around the motor revealed the problem. The supply that feeds power to the beater head is routed around the motor and sliding lever mechanism and a broken cable was to blame for the beaters not spinning.

Access was difficult due to the design so rather than completely tearing down the body to replace the supply loom, I reattached the broken wire with some soldering and heat shrink to make a robust repair.

After carefully rerouting the cables and reassembling the body, wheels and beater head, the beaters spun once more. Result.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After a new set of filters were fitted and a light service, the machine was as good as new.

Cost of replacement machine: £000’s. Cost of repair parts: £11.69 plus my time and two teas.

Every home should have one of these hand held dust busters. Simple as that.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, May’19, Dyson DC34 Animal.

Why? Because they are easy to use, easy to clean and last ages on a charge.

Top tips for keeping your Dyson DC34 running for longer

Keep the filter cleaned (wash regularly)

Remove any build-up of hair from the roller beaters

Keep all electrical connections clean (use WD40 or similar)

This one was admitted to the workshop with one fault, but the diagnosis revealed two problems.

When in use, the roller beaters would stop frequently and not restart. The cure for this problem was to remove all the hair from the roller spindles and the internal motor belt drive, which was held together with a couple of screws. Once all the hair was removed, the rollers worked much better, but not perfect. A quick blast of air and a quick spray with contact cleaner into the motor and the rollers were once again, working as they should.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On a full charge, one of these Dysons should run for about 20 minutes, but this one didn’t. The battery wasn’t holding the charge, so after a quick look online, a new one was purchased for just under £20. Great value.

As covered a few times on my blog already, I do like Dyson products. They’re engineer and tinker-friendly.

Fixitworkshop, March’19, Dyson DC14 (PS, I did clean the old paint off later).

A colleague got in touch with a poorly DC14 which had worked well. She’d kept the filters clean and generally looked after the appliance with care, which makes a nice change. However, despite all this, nothing was being collected with the floor beaters. The hose worked OK, but that was it.

Time to do some screwdriver wealding. Despite the filters being in good condition, I washed and dried them anyway, just in case.

Up ending the vacuum cleaner revealed the problem straight away. The bottom foot hose had become disconnected from the interference fit compression joint and was flapping in the breeze. Usually when this happens, it’s because the hose has split, but this one was in good condition. What seemed to have happened was that the hose had become untwisted from the joint, so all that was required was careful reassembly.

While the cleaner was in pieces, I gave it a thorough service, paying attention to all of the machine’s seals and moving parts, especially where the cylinder joins the vacuum pipes from the motor as these can leak with age.

Once spruced-up, the cleaner was back to full health once again. Another Dyson saved from the tip.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cost of replacement: £150 and up. Cost of repair: Time, tea and biscuits and silicone spray, a bit of washing-up liquid.